Troutman Pepper recently secured asylum on behalf of a pro bono client from Jordan, who was forced to flee her abusive husband and seek refuge for herself and her children in the United States. Although she sought help from the Jordanian authorities on multiple occasions, the client was told to reconcile with her husband and discouraged from pursuing legal action. It wasn’t until her arrival in the U.S. in 2019 that she had a meaningful opportunity to escape her abuser and build a better life for herself and her children.
In late 2023, the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) engaged Linnea Kelly and Andy Rogoff to handle the pro bono asylum matter. Kelly is an associate in Troutman Pepper’s Health Sciences Practice. Rogoff is a Fellow with the Pepper Center for Public Service. To prepare, Kelly and Rogoff engaged an expert from the University of Leeds, Dr. Hasan Hafidh, who produced a detailed report supporting the client’s claim that Jordan would do nothing to deter or punish the abuse she had suffered.
On April 11, Kelly successfully tried the case before an immigration judge. The client, who suffered more than a decade of relentless abuse, did her best to respond to difficult questioning on the witness stand, forced to recount to the best of her ability the extensive trauma she suffered – a very difficult task for survivors of domestic violence. Her testimony was corroborated by text messages from her abusive husband and from witness statements obtained from family friends aware of the situation. The cumulative weight of the factual evidence plus the thorough expert report persuaded the judge that the client could not safely return to Jordan. As a result, the judge ruled in favor of granting asylum to the client and her four children.
“This case was a powerful reminder of the impact that legal advocacy can have on individual lives,” Kelly said. “Being able to secure asylum for our client and her children, who have endured so much, was an incredibly rewarding experience. It underscores the importance of our work, and I am honored to have contributed to this significant milestone in our client’s journey to freedom and safety.”
Original source can be found here.